


Every Ship Has Them

by lucymonster



Category: Star Wars: Rebels
Genre: Character acquires pet rats; everything's great; rats are great, Fluff, Gen, Rats
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-28
Updated: 2021-01-28
Packaged: 2021-03-12 14:41:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 432
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29012217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lucymonster/pseuds/lucymonster
Summary: It’s not hard, by process of elimination, to figure out who chewed through the cables of the Ghost’s primary sensor array.
Relationships: Hera Syndulla & Sabine Wren
Comments: 2
Kudos: 12
Collections: Bulletproof 20/21





	Every Ship Has Them

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SegaBarrett](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SegaBarrett/gifts).



It’s not hard, by process of elimination, to figure out who chewed through the cables of the  _ Ghost’s  _ primary sensor array.

‘This isn’t funny anymore,’ says Hera, when she confronts Sabine in her brightly painted cabin. ‘We were flying completely blind while Chopper fixed those wires. If the Empire had found us, we would have been sitting mynocks. I’m putting my foot down. From now on, those little pests–’

‘Close the door,’ says Sabine, waving urgently. ‘It took hours to catch them last time they got out.’

Her temper rising, Hera crosses the threshold and closes the cabin door – just in time. A rat has streaked out from under Sabine’s bunk and made a dash for it, darting between Hera’s feet and arriving just as it clicks shut. She stops in place, unable to move a foot lest it come down on a stray tail. ‘This has to stop. We’re an active duty combat vessel, not a flying menagerie.’

Sabine rolls her eyes. ‘You have Chopper. Zeb has Kallus. Why shouldn’t I have pets too?’

‘Agent Kallus doesn’t scent-mark the furniture. What do you even want with rats? All they do is eat and sleep and chew things and–’

‘Ow! Nibbles, you little jerk!’ Wincing, Sabine reaches behind her and shoves a hand up the back of her shirt. It reemerges holding an albino rat, which dangles like a fuzzy white sausage from her grip beneath its front legs. She holds it out at Hera. ‘I need to get a brick for their cage,’ she explains. ‘Something to wear their claws down. They’re getting sharp. Come on, though, Hera, just look at him. Look at his twitchy little face. How can you ask what I want with him? He’s so sweet.’

Cupping his elongated body with her free hand, Sabine cradles Nibbles to her chest. The rat beneath Hera’s feet scurries over to join the party, scaling Sabine’s leg with the speed of a pole climbing champion and draping itself over its brother’s body. The two rats nestle there in a pile, chittering quietly. 

They  _ are  _ sweet. Hera can’t deny that.

‘Just … keep them out of the cockpit,’ she says, softening despite herself at the sight of Nibbles’ twitching whiskers. ‘And away from all essential systems. And  _ please  _ keep them off my favourite chair. I’m sick to death of sitting in wet spots.’

‘You got it,’ says Sabine. Hera knows an empty promise when she hears one. But seeing the adoring way Sabine looks at her rats as they squirm and wriggle in her hands, Hera can’t bring herself to stay annoyed.


End file.
